Apple doubles down on the enterprise market
In order to help boost sales of its mobile device amongst enterprises, Apple has announced a partnership with the consulting firm Deloitte & Touche LLP.
On Wednesday, the two companies said that they had formed a new service called Enterprise Next, which would entail 5,000 consultants from Deloitte advising clients in a range of enterprises as to how they could put Apple devices to the best use within their organization.
Apple's CEO Tim Cook said in regard to its deal with Deloitte that "enterprises need trusted advisers". The company has made previous deals with IBM, Cisco Systems and SAP in an effort to get its devices into the hands of more business users.
Deloitte's employees are quite familiar with Apple products as the company currently uses over 100,000 iPhones and iPads in its daily operations. The company has also built 75 customized apps that take advantage of iOS.
Sales of Apple devices have waned slightly in the past few years and now Apple sees business customers as an opportunity to turn those numbers around. Last year, Cook noted that corporate purchases accounted for $25 billion of Apple's revenue and were growing at a rapid rate of 40 percent.
Furthermore, in its latest version of its mobile operation system, iOS 10, Apple has added several new features specifically tailored at business customers. The company worked alongside Cisco to speed up apps running on corporate networks and it also improved integration with Microsoft's Exchange email servers.
Mobile devices have also begun to replace personal computers among many corporate users as they allow workers to quickly access information and act faster. Cook himself has stated that "the desktop era is fading fast".
Though iPhones are becoming more popular with business users, Apple has centered its push into business around the iPad. Sales of the company's tablet have fallen for ten consecutive quarters, but revenue has increased lately due to the higher price of the iPad Pro model which is aimed at professionals and graphic designers.
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